Zimbabwe faces lengthy power outages after surge hits plants
Zimbabwe faces prolonged power outages after a surge in electricity imports from neighboring South Africa overloaded its network and caused generating plants to fail, Energy Minister Soda Zhemu said.
The surge caused a nationwide blackout in the early hours of Monday, as it affected output at the Kariba hydropower plant and the coal-fired Hwange facility, Zhemu said by phone from the capital, Harare.
Generation has since been restored at Kariba and partially at plants in Hwange and Harare. Output at Hwange, the country’s biggest coal-fired facility, is at 85 megawatts, out of its installed capacity of 920 megawatts.
“Demand is outweighing internal power-generation capacity,” Zhemu said.
Kariba produces 1 018 megawatts of electricity, compared with national consumption of about 2 000 megawatts, according to the Zimbabwe Power Co.’s website. Zimbabwe doesn’t produce enough of its own power and relies on imports from neighbouring South Africa and Mozambique to meet demand.
In parts of the city center in Harare on Monday, businesses were using diesel generators to run their operations. The second largest city of Bulawayo said Tuesday there was a possibility of water cuts being rolled out across the city.
“The water supply interruptions are due to the intermittent power supply being experienced citywide,” Christopher Dube, the town clerk, said in an emailed statement. Water pump stations have not received power supply since Monday evening, he said.
“This has negatively affected treatment of water, as well as pumping of both raw and clear water,” Dube said.
Eskom didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment.
Comments
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
For over 60 years, VEGA has provided industry-leading products for the measurement of level, density, weight and pressure. As the inventor of the...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Developed to exceed the latest EN 15964 standards for police breathalysers proving that it will remain accurate and reliable for many years to come.
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
